Narrator: Narvel Scherzinger (NS)
NS: I was born April the 7th, 1918, in Patuxent, Ohio. [tape cuts out]--the CCC in September of 1937. [tape cuts out]--sent me to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for my initiation into the Cs. After two weeks there, we boarded the train and headed west-northwest. We arrived in Yellowstone National Park in—we used to travel by train because they put us in a car and the car would fill up and we were attached to a passenger train that was going northwest. Sometimes, on the siding, several of us got out to stretch our legs. And then another passenger train would hook onto us and take us another distance. And this took several days. We finally arrived in Livingston, Montana. We boarded the trucks and transported us to the camps at Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone National Park. When we arrived at camp, it was rather cold travelling in that truck. I know we almost froze to death. When we arrived, the chow hall was open and so they gave us a good hot meal. And then we were assigned to our barracks and then we had a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, they assembled us and then we were given an orientation by our commanding officers. The commanding officer was Kevin [Foltz?], he was a little fellow about five foot—oh, I’d say six—and always wore riding trousers and carried a kind of a whip-like. Anyway, he had an assistant, a master sergeant, who was six foot three and was kind of a big fellow. Nobody wanted to hassle with him. Anyway, after orientation, the doctor came and gave us all shots. And then, we were being assigned to our various jobs. Well, they assigned me to the infirmary, which was the camp--they called it the hospital—it was a clinic. I was the only one that had the Red Cross 1st Aid card. So, my assignment was to go to the infirmary to keep it clean and to take care of the scratches and bumps and whatever that occurred during the working hours of the men.
Continuing on: I am a native American. An Ashford graduate. Well, when we arrived, we were assigned to our barracks. Our barracks were quite long. There were between 40 and 60 men to a barracks. There were four barracks in the camp. There were two on one side of the flagpole and two on the other side, which had a space there. And at one end of the parade ground there, we called it; there was the mess hall and all the accessories down there, the dumps and so forth. On the other end, we had the headquarters building and then we had a canteen, which carried small things like, oh, candies, toothbrushes, and shaving material, etc.
One thing about our campsite there, it was in a beautiful location. We were about a mile from Mammoth Springs. We had kind of a forest like on one side of us, then on the other side of the open I could see across to a small bluff. It must have been fifteen miles away; it looked pretty close, sometimes. Anyway, it was a beautiful location.
[Mrs. Scherzinger?]: --want to know, what you did.
NS: The infirmary was located right across from the canteen, on one corner of the parade ground. And it was a building, not a large building, but big enough that we had a treatment room in front, and then on one side of that we had a dental clinic, and then in the back we had a ward with eight beds in it. And then there was another little room, called the isolation room. That was my room, that’s where I slept, because I was on duty 24 hours a day for anyone that might have gotten sick or something. I had to keep it cleaned. Every once in a while, we’d have all the beds full because of, oh, maybe colds or we had some people that got reactions to their shots that they received when they arrived. These people would spend maybe a day or two in bed because they were pretty sick.
My contacts with the animals were sometimes pretty slow. Down by the mess hall there were cans where the garbage was placed. And during the night, the bears would come in and raid these cans. And they’d make one heck of a noise. And some of those bears were pretty big. Brown bears. Once in a while, we had a grizzly come in. They didn’t do any bodily harm to anybody, but they sure did wreck up about eight or ten of our big garbage cans. Other than that, out the back door of my infirmary, I fed some deer. I would feed them some bread and stuff like that. We’d have elk come down; came through there. They were just about as tame as if we had dogs and always begging for food.
I would like to say, while speaking of food: our food, we had a very good cook. We had men, of course, assigned to the galley to assist him. And he could really put down a meal. He was a good baker. Evidently they seized—supplied us with plenty of good food because he could really cook it up and make it real palatable. And everybody enjoyed it. Nobody lost weight, I assure you.
Anyway, the men did work hard. Every morning, they were assigned to different trucks. I think we had four or six trucks that the men got on and went to their various jobs. A lot of work was done locally around Mammoth Springs. They had parking lots and, oh, just various jobs that they did. They did some [unintelligible]. When we went to visit there, back in the 1950s, we noticed a lot of the work that they did way back when still existed. Probably exists today. The men, they were motivated real well by our camp doctor and the leaders there.
Now, my duties there: I was there a year. We did have the men go out to one fire. That was, oh, about in the park there, as I recall along a mountain side. I went over to take care of their burns and stuff like that--and sprained ankles. They did work and they did put out the fire. It wasn’t a big fire, but it was large enough that if it had got out of hand, it would have been a major one, like the one that the Park had here a few years back.
The biggest challenge I had, that was part of my work concerns was: I did know my 1st aid, but there was a lot more to running an infirmary. We had sick call every morning and several guys would come in for a sick call with various complaints. I would take their temperature, and their pulse, and ask them how they felt and so forth. Sometimes, if they had a temperature I’d put them in bed for a while and give them some liquids and so forth until the doctor got there. See, we had one doctor for three camps in Yellowstone. He would come to our camp two days a week, unless we notified him that we needed him.
Other than that, if we had a real emergency, there was a small hospital in Mammoth. And we would call them to assist us with our emergency. Other than that, we were—well, I was pretty much alone for several days a week handling the medical situations. And I learned a lot. I kind of grew up and it kind of made a better man of me.
During the stay at Yellowstone National Park, I did earn a forestry award. I took a forestry course. On Saturdays, we had different kinds of--individual forest rangers would come in and give us a class on forestry. Another gentleman came in. Well, actually he was--those people that hadn’t received their high school graduation, he would give them different subjects so they could receive their certificate of graduation before they left the camp.
OK, what’s next? I was home for about a year before I joined the Navy. I joined the Navy in 1939, knowing that things in Europe were getting pretty hot and I was the age where I would have been drafted. So, I joined the Navy and went to boot camp in Newport, Rhode Island. After boot camp, they sent me to the medical school in Portsmouth, Virginia. After medical school, they assigned me to Washington, D.C., as a hospital corpsman apprentice. And there I learned a lot and used a lot of the information that I learned in the 3-Cs. Later on, they assigned me to the Marine Corps as a corpsman. And I served with them during Guadalcanal maneuver in Guadalcanal in 1942. To make a long story short, I was discharged in 1945 due to a disability.
I feel that the 3-Cs basically did a lot of good work. For most people--actually, people that were in the Cs were more capable of taking regimentation and they knew how to take orders and so forth. So, this country of ours was very lucky that we had a President that started something like the 3-Cs.
This is about all I can say at this time. So, Mary, I’m sorry that I didn’t get this to you before this. I still have my difficulties. Plus, I have macular degeneration. My eyes are failing. So, I don’t know. Anyway, if you can use this that’s fine. Thank you, [girl?].
Mary, I’m going to add a couple comments here. I’m sorry I didn’t use your tape. I started this tape feeling I would be testing it to see how it would work out. But, I had many difficulties in trying to get this tape out to you and ready. I didn’t do a very good job. There are a few things that I remember, though, as far as the activities in the camp during the period of time I was there. As far as regimentation, we did have to fall out every morning. I mean, all the troops did. I didn’t because I was sleeping in the infirmary. But, anyway, the troops did, in the buildings, had to fall out at reveille. Each barracks had a leader and they’d report all was there. Then we’d stand and salute the flag and the flag went up on the parade ground. Then after that, they all went to the mess hall and ate. And then after they ate their breakfast, they came back to the barracks and got ready to go to work. They would then, all of them, be assigned to one of the trucks that were going out. A few of them would stay in camp and help with the mess. Well, in the mess hall. They’d help clean the mess hall and wash pans and stuff like that. And dishes. And kept everything clean as far as the mess hall went. Each member in the camp got a chance to do this during my stay there. Of course, I was exempted from that. So, I was pretty lucky. I would have liked to.
Well, another thing, too: In the evening, when the men came back in from work, they took a shower and got cleaned up and got ready for the evening meal. But, before the evening meal, we had retreat formation for the flag coming down. All stood and saluted the flag as it was lowered. Another thing, too, Mary: I attempted to play the bugle while I was there. I used to--my lips didn’t fit the mouthpiece too well. But, I tried anyway. I tried in the morning to do reveille and also in the evening retreat formation as the flag was coming down I would blow the bugle for that. And then in the evening, at nine o’clock, I would blow taps. And, I did a miserable job doing that. Anyway, I gave it a try.
This is about all I remember now. And, I’m sorry that this is so late. I hope you can get some information from this. And we’re sending both this tape and your tape back. Hope that you can use this. Thanks again, Mary. Bye-Bye.

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Narvel Scherzinger served with Company #538, stationed at Mammoth Hot Springs (YNP-6). He worked in the infirmary and recounts his memories of the camp, the infirmary, and incidents with bears. He is especially detailed in describing the arrival procedures and daily routine of the camp. The narrator self-interviewed by recording his responses to a list of written questions.

Transferred from audio cassette using TEAC recorder/player. Edited for clarity using Audacity software.

Date Digitized

2017

Transcript

Narrator: Narvel Scherzinger (NS)
NS: I was born April the 7th, 1918, in Patuxent, Ohio. [tape cuts out]--the CCC in September of 1937. [tape cuts out]--sent me to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for my initiation into the Cs. After two weeks there, we boarded the train and headed west-northwest. We arrived in Yellowstone National Park in—we used to travel by train because they put us in a car and the car would fill up and we were attached to a passenger train that was going northwest. Sometimes, on the siding, several of us got out to stretch our legs. And then another passenger train would hook onto us and take us another distance. And this took several days. We finally arrived in Livingston, Montana. We boarded the trucks and transported us to the camps at Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone National Park. When we arrived at camp, it was rather cold travelling in that truck. I know we almost froze to death. When we arrived, the chow hall was open and so they gave us a good hot meal. And then we were assigned to our barracks and then we had a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, they assembled us and then we were given an orientation by our commanding officers. The commanding officer was Kevin [Foltz?], he was a little fellow about five foot—oh, I’d say six—and always wore riding trousers and carried a kind of a whip-like. Anyway, he had an assistant, a master sergeant, who was six foot three and was kind of a big fellow. Nobody wanted to hassle with him. Anyway, after orientation, the doctor came and gave us all shots. And then, we were being assigned to our various jobs. Well, they assigned me to the infirmary, which was the camp--they called it the hospital—it was a clinic. I was the only one that had the Red Cross 1st Aid card. So, my assignment was to go to the infirmary to keep it clean and to take care of the scratches and bumps and whatever that occurred during the working hours of the men.
Continuing on: I am a native American. An Ashford graduate. Well, when we arrived, we were assigned to our barracks. Our barracks were quite long. There were between 40 and 60 men to a barracks. There were four barracks in the camp. There were two on one side of the flagpole and two on the other side, which had a space there. And at one end of the parade ground there, we called it; there was the mess hall and all the accessories down there, the dumps and so forth. On the other end, we had the headquarters building and then we had a canteen, which carried small things like, oh, candies, toothbrushes, and shaving material, etc.
One thing about our campsite there, it was in a beautiful location. We were about a mile from Mammoth Springs. We had kind of a forest like on one side of us, then on the other side of the open I could see across to a small bluff. It must have been fifteen miles away; it looked pretty close, sometimes. Anyway, it was a beautiful location.
[Mrs. Scherzinger?]: --want to know, what you did.
NS: The infirmary was located right across from the canteen, on one corner of the parade ground. And it was a building, not a large building, but big enough that we had a treatment room in front, and then on one side of that we had a dental clinic, and then in the back we had a ward with eight beds in it. And then there was another little room, called the isolation room. That was my room, that’s where I slept, because I was on duty 24 hours a day for anyone that might have gotten sick or something. I had to keep it cleaned. Every once in a while, we’d have all the beds full because of, oh, maybe colds or we had some people that got reactions to their shots that they received when they arrived. These people would spend maybe a day or two in bed because they were pretty sick.
My contacts with the animals were sometimes pretty slow. Down by the mess hall there were cans where the garbage was placed. And during the night, the bears would come in and raid these cans. And they’d make one heck of a noise. And some of those bears were pretty big. Brown bears. Once in a while, we had a grizzly come in. They didn’t do any bodily harm to anybody, but they sure did wreck up about eight or ten of our big garbage cans. Other than that, out the back door of my infirmary, I fed some deer. I would feed them some bread and stuff like that. We’d have elk come down; came through there. They were just about as tame as if we had dogs and always begging for food.
I would like to say, while speaking of food: our food, we had a very good cook. We had men, of course, assigned to the galley to assist him. And he could really put down a meal. He was a good baker. Evidently they seized—supplied us with plenty of good food because he could really cook it up and make it real palatable. And everybody enjoyed it. Nobody lost weight, I assure you.
Anyway, the men did work hard. Every morning, they were assigned to different trucks. I think we had four or six trucks that the men got on and went to their various jobs. A lot of work was done locally around Mammoth Springs. They had parking lots and, oh, just various jobs that they did. They did some [unintelligible]. When we went to visit there, back in the 1950s, we noticed a lot of the work that they did way back when still existed. Probably exists today. The men, they were motivated real well by our camp doctor and the leaders there.
Now, my duties there: I was there a year. We did have the men go out to one fire. That was, oh, about in the park there, as I recall along a mountain side. I went over to take care of their burns and stuff like that--and sprained ankles. They did work and they did put out the fire. It wasn’t a big fire, but it was large enough that if it had got out of hand, it would have been a major one, like the one that the Park had here a few years back.
The biggest challenge I had, that was part of my work concerns was: I did know my 1st aid, but there was a lot more to running an infirmary. We had sick call every morning and several guys would come in for a sick call with various complaints. I would take their temperature, and their pulse, and ask them how they felt and so forth. Sometimes, if they had a temperature I’d put them in bed for a while and give them some liquids and so forth until the doctor got there. See, we had one doctor for three camps in Yellowstone. He would come to our camp two days a week, unless we notified him that we needed him.
Other than that, if we had a real emergency, there was a small hospital in Mammoth. And we would call them to assist us with our emergency. Other than that, we were—well, I was pretty much alone for several days a week handling the medical situations. And I learned a lot. I kind of grew up and it kind of made a better man of me.
During the stay at Yellowstone National Park, I did earn a forestry award. I took a forestry course. On Saturdays, we had different kinds of--individual forest rangers would come in and give us a class on forestry. Another gentleman came in. Well, actually he was--those people that hadn’t received their high school graduation, he would give them different subjects so they could receive their certificate of graduation before they left the camp.
OK, what’s next? I was home for about a year before I joined the Navy. I joined the Navy in 1939, knowing that things in Europe were getting pretty hot and I was the age where I would have been drafted. So, I joined the Navy and went to boot camp in Newport, Rhode Island. After boot camp, they sent me to the medical school in Portsmouth, Virginia. After medical school, they assigned me to Washington, D.C., as a hospital corpsman apprentice. And there I learned a lot and used a lot of the information that I learned in the 3-Cs. Later on, they assigned me to the Marine Corps as a corpsman. And I served with them during Guadalcanal maneuver in Guadalcanal in 1942. To make a long story short, I was discharged in 1945 due to a disability.
I feel that the 3-Cs basically did a lot of good work. For most people--actually, people that were in the Cs were more capable of taking regimentation and they knew how to take orders and so forth. So, this country of ours was very lucky that we had a President that started something like the 3-Cs.
This is about all I can say at this time. So, Mary, I’m sorry that I didn’t get this to you before this. I still have my difficulties. Plus, I have macular degeneration. My eyes are failing. So, I don’t know. Anyway, if you can use this that’s fine. Thank you, [girl?].
Mary, I’m going to add a couple comments here. I’m sorry I didn’t use your tape. I started this tape feeling I would be testing it to see how it would work out. But, I had many difficulties in trying to get this tape out to you and ready. I didn’t do a very good job. There are a few things that I remember, though, as far as the activities in the camp during the period of time I was there. As far as regimentation, we did have to fall out every morning. I mean, all the troops did. I didn’t because I was sleeping in the infirmary. But, anyway, the troops did, in the buildings, had to fall out at reveille. Each barracks had a leader and they’d report all was there. Then we’d stand and salute the flag and the flag went up on the parade ground. Then after that, they all went to the mess hall and ate. And then after they ate their breakfast, they came back to the barracks and got ready to go to work. They would then, all of them, be assigned to one of the trucks that were going out. A few of them would stay in camp and help with the mess. Well, in the mess hall. They’d help clean the mess hall and wash pans and stuff like that. And dishes. And kept everything clean as far as the mess hall went. Each member in the camp got a chance to do this during my stay there. Of course, I was exempted from that. So, I was pretty lucky. I would have liked to.
Well, another thing, too: In the evening, when the men came back in from work, they took a shower and got cleaned up and got ready for the evening meal. But, before the evening meal, we had retreat formation for the flag coming down. All stood and saluted the flag as it was lowered. Another thing, too, Mary: I attempted to play the bugle while I was there. I used to--my lips didn’t fit the mouthpiece too well. But, I tried anyway. I tried in the morning to do reveille and also in the evening retreat formation as the flag was coming down I would blow the bugle for that. And then in the evening, at nine o’clock, I would blow taps. And, I did a miserable job doing that. Anyway, I gave it a try.
This is about all I remember now. And, I’m sorry that this is so late. I hope you can get some information from this. And we’re sending both this tape and your tape back. Hope that you can use this. Thanks again, Mary. Bye-Bye.